Stropping device for safety-razor blades.



A.-G. STOVER. STROPPING DEVICE r011 SAFETY RAZOR BLADES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 17. 1913.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

ALLEN C. STOVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STROPPING DEVICE FOR SAFETY BAZOB BLADES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3,1914.

Application filed April 17, 1919. Serial No. 761,690.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN C. STOVER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county ofCook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stropping Devices for Safety-Razor Blades, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to st-rop ing devices and more specifically to that c ass thereof designed for use especially in the stropping of the blades of safety razors.

The object of my invention is the production of a device of the character mentioned which will be of durable and economical construction and, through the medium of which, a razor blade of the character mentioned may be stropped with ease and expedition.

' A further object is the provision of a stropping device which may be easily ma nipulated and which will be efiicient in use.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stropping device embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, parts being broken away and shown in section, Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the device, the clamping j aws-thereof being shown in section, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stropping block of the device.

The preferred form of construction as illustrated in the drawing comprises a clamp consisting of two thin flat substantially rectangular plates or jaw members 1 and 1. Said jaw members 1 and 1 are pivotally connected intermediate their ends by means of a pin 2 which passes through ears 3 formed upon said jaw members at the inner sides thereof. Said clamp is so constructed that when a safety razor blade 4 of conventional form is arran ed between the clamping or operative en s of the jaw members 1 and 1 the outer sides of the latter will be inclined toward each other at an acute angle and so that the cutting edge of the between the rearward ends of the jaw mern- D here 1 and 1 servesto normally hold the latter in operative relation or temporarily in clamping relation with the razor blade arranged between the same. Also arranged between the rearward ends of said jaw memhers is a lever 6 the inner end of which is loosely pivoted upon a pin 7 formed upon the innerside of the jaw member 1', oscillation of said lever being limited by pins 9 also-formed upon the jaw member 1 Formed at the outer end of the lever 6 is a tapering or Wedge-shaped projection 9 adapted to engage between the inclined inner edges 10 of transversely extending flanges or ribs 11 formed upon the inner sides of the jaw members 1 and 1 as clearly shown. The inclination of the edges 10 of the flanges 11 corresponds with that of the sides of the projection 9, the arrangement being such that, when the lever 6 is rocked to force the projection 9 into engagement bet-ween the edges 10, the forwar ends of the clamping jaws will be pressed into clamping relation with the blade arranged between the same. Said projection will of course be held in operative relation with said flanges 11 through friction. The outer end of the lever 6 is formed into a handle or finger piece as shown in order to facilitate manual rocking thereof.

In order to adapt the clamp for engagement of razor blades of various thicknesses the edges 10 of the flanges 11 as well as the adjacent sides of the projection 9 are pro.-

vided with steps or oifsets 12. With this arrangement where a very thin blade is engaged by the clamp the projection 9 will be engaged with the edges 10 of the flanges 11 as shown in Fig. 3 theopposite surfaces 6' of the lever 6 in this [arrangement engagin with the right hand end portions of the e ges 10 as will be readily understood. Where a blade of greater thickness is arranged in the clamp the projection 9 will engage only with the right hand and portions of the edges 10 as will be readily understood.

The .clamp as described, after a razor blade has been arranged therein in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is placed upon a base member 13 which is provided at one edge of the upper side thereof with a bevel 14. Upon the upper side of the base member 13 are provided pins 15 which are adapted to engage with sockets or perforations with the desired efiect.

- tion set forth,

16 formed in the jaw members 1 and 1 adjacent the rearward ends thereof. The pins 15 are so positioned upon the base member 13 that, when the clamp. is arranged upon said base member with the sockets 16 of the lower jaw member thereof engaging said pins, the forward edge of the blade 4 will be in registration with the rearward edge of the bevel let as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The bevel 14 is of such inclination that, when the clamp is arranged upon the base member 18, the upper surface of the upper jaw member of said clamp will be substantially coplanar with said bevel. This being so it is obvious that stropping of the outer edge of the blade arranged in the clamp may be readily eflected through the medium of a block 17 having a covering 18 at its under side of stropping material, through sliding or rubbing of said stropping block over the upper surface of the clamp and the bevel 14, the forward edge of the blade, in this manipulation of the stropping block being engaged by the latter The clamp is of a reversible character and so that in the operation of the device, said clamp will be reversed upon the base member at intervals to secure contact of the stropping block with the opposite sides of the blade which isibeing acted upon. The pins 15 evidently serve to hold theclamp against horizontal movement in the manipulation of the block 17 and said pins releasably engage the sockets 16 so as to permit of ready reversal of the clamp.'

Where a razor blade of the double edge type is being sharpened it'is understood of course that when one edge thereof has been operated upon, said blade may be turned around in the clamp in order to efi'ect'stropping of the other edge thereof.

The device is extremely simple and economical in construction, and hence may be manufactured at a low cost and will be found highly efiicient in operation.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into efiect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the recise details of construcof such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device of the class described comprising a base member having a bevel at one edge; a clamp for holding a razor blade with one edge of the latter projecting therefrom; and means for holding said clamp in position upon said base member with said ut desire to avail myself oeaaee edge of said blade registering with said bevel, substantially as described.

2. A device of the class described comprising a base member; a clamp for holding the razor blade with one edge of the latter projecting therefrom, said clamp, when arranged upon said base member, being adapted to hold said blade in a position slightly inclined to the upper face of said base member and with said edge of said blade contacting with said face of said base member, said clamp being invertible upon said base member; and means for releasably holding said clamp against horizontal movement on said base member in either of its positions thereon, substantially as described.

3. A device of the class described comprising a base member; a clamp for holding the razor blade with one edge of the latter projecting therefrom, said clamp, when arranged upon said'base member, being adapted to hold said blade in a position slightly inclined to the upper face of said base memher and with said edge of said blade con-' tacting with said face of said base member, said clamp being invertible upon said base member; and means on said base member adapted to releasably engage sockets in the opposite sides of said clamp, to releasably hold the latter against. horizontal movement on said base member in either of its positions thereon, substantially as described.

1. In a device of the class described a clamp for holding a razor blade comprising cooperating pivotally connected clamping jaws adapted to engage a razor blade between the corresponding ends thereof; and a wedge member pivotally mounted between the opposite ends of said jaws and movable in a plane disposed substantially parallel with said jaws for forcing the forward ends of the latter into clamping relation with the blade arranged between the same, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the class described a clamp for holding a razor blade comprising cooperating pivotally connected clamping jaws adapted to engage a razor blade between the corresponding ends thereof; and a pivotally mounted lever movable in a plane disposed substantially parallel with said jaws having a tapering project-ion jaws into clam-ping relation with the blade arranged between the same, the inner edges of said projections being inclined to correspend with the inclination of the opposite sides of said wedge member, substantially as described.

. 7. In a device ofjthe class described a clamp" for holding a razor blade comprising cooperating pivotally connected clamping jaws adapted to engage, a razor blade ;between the corresponding ends thereof; a pivotally mounted wedge member adapted to engage between projections provided at the inner sides of the opposite ends of said jaws for forcing :the forward ends of said jaws into clamping relation with theblade arranged between thesame, the inner edges 2 of said projections being inclined to correspondwith the inclination of the opposite sides of said-wedge member; and steps in the opposite sides of said wedge member and in the inner edges of said projections for adapting. the clamp' to accommodate blades of various thicknesses, substantially as described.

8. In a device of the class described the combination of a base member having a bevel at one edge; a clamp for holding a razor blade with one edge of the latter pros jecting therefrom, the outer surfaces of the jaws of said clamp being flat and, when said clamp is in engagement with a razor blade, said surfaces being inclined to each other at' an acute angle; and means for releasably holding saidclamp'against horizontal movement on said base member with the outer edge of said razor blade registering with said bevel of said base member, said bevel of said base member, when said clamp is arranged upon the latter, being substantially coplanar with the upper surface of theclamp, substantially. as described. j

9. 'In a device of the class-described, the combination of a base member; a clamp for holding a blade with one edge positioned against the upper-side of said base member;

and a stroppmg block adapted to be moved in contact with the upper side of said clamp and saidedge of the blade clamped therein, substantially as described.

10. In. a device of the class described, the combination of a base member; a clamp for holding a blade with one edge positioned adjacent the upper side of said base memher, said clamp being reversible upon said base member; and a stropping block adapted to be moved in contact. with either side of said clamp and saidxedge of the blade. Y 

